The new drug, called Adipotide, attacks white adipose tissue under the skin and around the abdomen

Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a drug that assaults the blood supply of fat cells and led to weight loss in obese rhesus monkeys.

Renata Pasqualini, Ph.D., co-senior author of the study and professor in MD Anderson's David H. Koch Center for Applied Research for Genitourinary Cancers, along with Wadih Arap, M.D., co-senior author of the study and a professor in the Koch Center, and Kirstin Barnhart, D.V.M., Ph.D., veterinary clinical pathologist at MD Anderson's Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, have created a new weight-loss drug that could potentially reduce accumulated white fat in humans.

Currently, weight-loss drugs work to suppress the appetite or increase metabolism in order to combat obesity, but harmful side effects come with the use of such drugs.

Now, Pasqualini and Arap have designed a new drug called Adipotide, which attacks white adipose tissue. This tissue is an unhealthy kind of fat that accumulates around the abdomen and under the skin. Adipotide contains a homing agent that attaches to a protein on the surface of blood vessels that support the fat. A synthetic peptide then triggers cell death, and with a lack of blood supply, the fat cells are reabsorbed.

The drug was used in mice models and rhesus monkey models. Adipotide was able to decrease abdominal circumference, body mass index (BMI) and body fat.

According to the study, the obese mice lost about 30 percent of their body weight while on Adipotide. The rhesus monkeys in the study, which were "spontaneously" obese due to overeating and a lack of physical activity, had a 27 percent decrease in abdominal fat levels. The drug reduced the weight of rhesus monkeys by 11 percent in just one month.

The rhesus monkeys, in addition to being obese, had other health problems associated with their obesity such as metabolic syndrome. This can lead to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But those treated with Adipotide used about 50 percent less insulin.

The research team used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to gauge abdominal body fat, which discovered the reduction in abdominal fat levels.

According to the study, monkeys were alert and acted normally during treatment. This showed that the usual side effects of weight-loss drugs, such as loss of appetite and nausea, were not present while using Adipotide. However, Barnhart noted side effects in the kidneys, but the effect was "dose-dependent, predictable and reversible."

In a separate study to test for the drug's effects in non-obese monkeys, lean monkeys did not lose weight, which shows that the drug only acts in obese subjects.

The next step will be a clinical trial for obese prostate cancer patients, where these patients will receive daily injections of Adipotide for 28 days. The team has targeted prostate cancer patients because current treatments can lead to weight gain, and weight gain has caused problems with arthritis. This then leads to less activity, and more weight gain.

"The question is, will their prostate cancer become better if we can reduce their body weight and the associated health risks," said Arap.

Good grief, a bit of exercise and control of eating cheesy poofs will keep you from needing to purchase drugs to control your fat arse from growing. Used to be that if people got a bit of extra weight on, they would simply push back from the table and eat less. Then go work a bit harder. Now, it's just not possible and people need a stinking crutch to do something their body IS MADE TO DO!

Really if you have not read the other posts from below then you are just an ignorant a-hole that does not understand the hardship of being large. Sometimes it is not just people being lazy or them eating to much. There are many other reasons why people are fat.

Period. I have some big, big friends, and I know exactly how they got there, and they are free with how they got there. One of them actually puts some effort into reducing from time to time and will lose 150+ lbs. I have a cousin who lost around 250lbs just by eating right and running. She was HUGE at 400+.

You fatties out there need to get a hold of yourself, not look for a magic bullet. Of course in our society, that's not PC to say as problems never originate with an individual, it's all about who failed that person.

I love your comments but if you ever want or know anyone who wants to shed a few punds themselvse then I highly recommend this site. It is a FANTASTIC weightloss program that really works. I love to work out but lately I just haven't had the time or money to get back into it. Also, Spring break is commin up in a few months or so and I wanted to not only look but feel good as well. I've been doing this for a month and I have to say.. the amount of energy I have each day now is crazy, I feel amazing! I am in college and being a college student away from mom's home cooking and a bad sleeping schedule, I always felt like I had been hit by a bus. ha. I was always sleepy because of pulling all nighters writting papers and now that I am back on a healthy eating habbit and sleeping schedule.. I couldn't feel better! But just a little tip for everyone who wants to look and feel alive again!! Here's the link for anyone who is interested! http://massprojr2687234.positivestrongeryou.com/